Burnley winger Stanislas is looking up

JUNIOR Stanislas is hoping a home win against Bristol City today will help ease any lingering worries of being dragged into relegation trouble.

Burnley have won only once in their last 12 games and have slipped to within four points of 22nd - although nine clubs currently separate them in a somewhat congested bottom half of the table.

But Stanislas is confident the Clarets can beat bottom side City today and look to climb the table: “It’s in our own hands - we’re not down in a dogfight really.

“We’ll look to the next game against Bristol City.

“They’re having a tough time themselves so hopefully we can put in a good performance and get three points there and hopefully rise up rather than look down.

“We tend to as a group try to look at things from a more positive point of view, looking upwards rather than looking down.

“Hopefully in the six games left we can pick up as many points as we can.”

Burnley would have been 10th but for conceding a 97th-minute penalty at home to Nottingham Forest on Monday - after Stanislas had given the Clarets the lead.

And he feels the side are close to turning their results around: “We’ve been in winning positions and not quite got the three points.

“We haven’t been playing badly recently, so we can look at that as a positive and get the result to match the performances.

“But it (conceding late goals) seems to happen to us quite a lot.

“It’s probably a little bit of maturing as a group and hopefully kicking on and seeing games out.”

The side are without a home win in six games, since beating Crystal Palace with a Stanislas goal in January, and tomorrow would be the perfect time to end that run: “Definitely. With going with two up front on Monday, we definitely set our stall out to get the three points, it’s just disappointing the way it mapped out in the end.

“But we go into every game looking to win.

“We’ve been unlucky in the last few weeks not to get maximum points.

“We don’t think we’re going to reach a certain points target and knock it on the head, we’re going to go to the last game.”

Stanislas was just delighted to be back in the side after being left out for the previous three games: “It’s good. It’s frustrating for me personally, and any player who doesn’t play or is on the bench and in and out, when you get a game you’ve got to try to take the opportunity.

“I got the goal on Monday, but we missed out on the three points to that’s disappointing.”

Ross Wallace has pretty much nailed down the right wing berth, while Stanislas, Danny Ings, Martin Paterson, Keith Treacy and Alex Kacaniklic have fought it out on the left, and he added: “Ross is doing really well for us, he’s a really good player.

“But I’d like to play anywhere I can play - right, left or up front.

“As long as I’m on the pitch I’m happy. But I’m happy that Ross is doing well.

“For any player when you’re in and out it’s hard to really stamp your authority on it.

“When you get a few games you can build momentum and see what someone can really do.

“When you’re in and out it’s difficult for any player.”

One player leading by example currently is captain Jason Shackell, and Stanislas admitted: “He did really well against Forest. He was man of the match against Blackburn and again on Monday.

“He’s been doing really well.

“He’s our captain and has been a good leader for us.

“Him and Duffo have played well together, but when Duffo’s got his injury he’s come out, and we’ve got Kevin Long, who’s younger, but with Shacks alongside him he doesn’t look out of place at all.”

• The Burnley Express has launched a FREE football app which is now available to download on iPhone and Android devices.